1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera having a global positioning system (GPS) and a method and apparatus for controlling the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a digital camera capable of storing GPS information about the photographing location for attachment to a captured image, and of adaptively controlling supply of power to a GPS for fast operation and low power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
As digital cameras and mobile devices with built-in cameras have rapidly become widespread, it has become typical to capture a digital image by simple manipulation of such devices. Thus, a user would find it difficult to remember where each of a plurality of photographs stored in a memory. For this reason, there is a growing need to provide a captured image together with the location information thereof in order to help the user remember.
Conventionally, global positioning systems (GPSs) providing location information have been developed and commercialized. In general, a GPS continuously receives a satellite signal from a satellite in orbit and arithmetically processes the received signal. Thus, in an environment that does not require continuous location tracking but intermittently requires location information for photographing, it is necessary to adaptively control a supply of power to a GPS. In general, mobile devices have a limited battery capacity as a power source. Mobile devices therefore need to be designed to minimize consumption of overall power as well as consumption of power in a GPS. In particular, recently developed multi-functional convergent digital cameras not only have a main function of photographing a subject but also support various multimedia content, such as MP3, portable media player (PMP), and voice recording. Since a GPS preferably should not operate during reproduction of multimedia content, development of a method of optimizing control of a supply of power to a convergent digital camera is needed.